Brothers: The English Bratja
by Tobu Ishi
Summary: Tobu Ishi wrote it. Okichan recommended it. Vic Mignogna made it famous. Now, here's the full original lyrics for the fanmade transliteration of Michiru Oshima's beautiful Russian theme song. Not to mention a bit of the story behind how it was written


((If you'd like to avoid my rambling, just scroll down to the lyrics! It's fine, truly. ))

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** Author's Notes:**

Three years ago, in the autumn of 2004, I got into a show called Fullmetal Alchemist. In Japanese, _Hagane no Renkinjutsushi._ I was fascinated by the world it presented, and particularly touched--as many fans were--by the beautiful choral theme in Russian that pervaded the show.

One day, not long after I'd finished watching the series, I was making chocolate chip cookies in my college dormitory kitchen and thinking about that lovely tune. Earlier that day, I had looked up some literal Russian-to-English translations of it, but they weren't really singable. Word-for-word translations usually lose a little of their flow in the process. Language is just like that.

While I was stirring my cookie batter and humming, I started to think up slight alterations to those lyrics I'd read, singable words that might hopefully still preserve the heart of the song. The first line that burst into my mind was, "Beautiful mother, soft and sweet...once you were gone, we were not complete..."

And the rest, I guess, is sort of Fandom History.

Except, of course, that these lyrics would never have become so popular without the help of Vic Mignogna, Edward Elric's English voice actor, and my friend Marianne, a budding voice actress in her own right. She liked the lyrics and showed them to Vic, and he liked them so much that he added them to his performance repertoire. It was such a kind-hearted thing for them both to do, and I'm flattered to this day.

Unfortunately, there's one double-edged sword in having a famous voice actor sing your song. Over time, the lyrics have become more associated with Vic than with me. This isn't his fault. He always credits where credit is due. The main problem, I think, is that I don't have my own website to post my lyrics for reference. But I can at least try to get them out there in their full form. Better late than never, right?

So here are the lyrics. The full version. (Vic's version accidentally left out the second half of Alphonse's verse.)

(And just to make sure I, like Vic, give credit where it is due, here are the original translations I used to write my own version. ( http ://for ums. animesuki.c om/showthr ead. ph p?t11687 ) I could never have done it without them. (I don't, for the record, speak Russian--only English and Japanese.) For that matter, the original Russian version was composed by the venerable Michiru Oshima, and was sung by the childrens' chamber choir of the Moscow Music School.)

I have been amazed and touched to see the response to these lyrics. And I have been amazed at the way my simple words and Vic's wonderful voice have apparently touched so many FMA fans.

Thank you, everybody. God bless.

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**Brothers**

How can I repay you, brother mine?  
How can I expect you to forgive?  
Clinging to the past, I shed our blood  
And shattered your chance to live

Though I knew the laws, I paid no heed  
How can I return your wasted breath?  
What I didn't know has cost you dear;  
For there is no cure for death

Beautiful mother, soft and sweet  
Once you were gone we were not complete  
Back through the years we reached for you  
Alas, it was not to be

And how can I make amends  
For all that I took from you?  
I led you with hopeless dreams  
My brother, I was a fool

Don't cry for the past now, brother mine  
Neither you nor I are free of blame  
Nothing can erase the things we did  
For the path we took was the same

How could I expect to call you wrong?  
How could you be blamed for what we've done?  
Both of us were fools in our desires  
As we flew too close to the sun

Beautiful mother, soft and sweet  
Once you were gone we were not complete  
Back through the years we reached for you  
Alas, it was not to be

My dreams made me blind and mute  
I longed to return to that time  
I followed without a word  
My brother, the fault is mine

So where do we go from here?  
And how to forget and forgive?  
What's gone is forever lost  
Now all we can do is live...


End file.
